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Burlingame declared ‘Kettle Corn Capital of Kansas’

BURLINGAME—The Burlingame City Council unanimously approved the request of Jerry Hill, owner of Thrill’s Kettle Corn, to become the Kettle Corn Capitol of Kansas.

Thrill’s Kettle Corn won first, second and third place in the popcorn completion at the Kansas State Fair 2016. Jerry would like to have signs installed at all four roads into the city that announce Burlingame as Kettle Corn Capital of Kansas.

“I’m all for any recognition that he can have,” said Vicki DeMars, mayor. “I think it’s great.”

“We’re all talking about this business initiative and we all want to bring businesses,” said Leslie Holman, council member. “I think if we start with this little gesture, you know, this maybe will jump start something. Every little thing we do will help.”

“I think it’s a good thing to happen to Burlingame,” said Bunleng Hill, wife of Jerry Hill. “It gets people out to the events, most people don’t know Burlingame, they know Burlington, but not Burlingame, some people don’t even know it’s on a map.”

“I think if you guys get the signs, we can surely find a place to put them,” said Sheila Curtis, council member.

It was decided that Jerry and the city would get some samples of signs and prices and discuss at the next meeting.

The council heard from Mayor DeMars regarding the weeds and lawn mowing service for properties that are out of ordinance with grass and weeds over eight inches tall.

“I’m actually to the point of putting this out for somebody else to do our mowing for this kind of situation”, said DeMars. “The kind of tearing up that we are doing on our equipment. Our ordinance is not bad we just need a better way of enforcing it. We don’t know who owns the properties.

DeMars said that sometimes it is hard to track down the owners for one reason or the other. Rick Godderz, city attorney, said he will research how much it would cost to verify ownership.

In other business, the council:

• approved a request from the boy scouts to be reimbursed for their $10 permit fee to sell popcorn on the street corners.

• heard from Holman that he is concerned about the shelter house use and reservations at City Park. DeMars passed out the ordinances regarding this and everyone is to review for next meeting. Colson also addressed the park bathroom renovation and plumbing.

• heard from Wes Colson, city superintendent, regarding implementing an upgrade for the Ottawa COOP. He will spend $10,000 out of the electrical budget to upgrade to three-phase extension.

• heard from Colson that he needs to pay $7,994.52 to Kansas Emergency Management Association for eight years of the cities portion of transmission upgrades.

• heard from Curtis regarding the progress being made on the business welcome packets. She would like to see this implemented around the end of the year. It will be a booklet that contains all information about the city and businesses. It is being created to try and attract new business and families to Burlingame.

• heard from DeMars that she would like to see more youth projects created in the city.

“We need a positive influence”, said DeMars.

She will visit the seventh and eight- graders to see if there is any interest in a project titled “What would I do if I were mayor.”

• heard that a new freezer is needed at the city pool along with new chairs and tables.

• heard from DeMars that she is unhappy with the lack of response from the recreation commission.

“I’m going to say it really irritates me that we sent out a letter to the recreation members that we appointed, the city itself, to come to a council meeting and discuss some things and they did not even respond,” Demars said.